Race is on: Digital platforms for medical technology

Many industries have been reinvented by digital. But not all. Healthcare, for one, has been reluctant to embrace digital business models. That’s set to change. Facing its own cycle of upheaval, the sector must wake up now to the digital imperative or face disruption from new technology players on a massive scale.

Surging healthcare costs. The shift from selling products to providing services. New consumer expectations. A focus on prevention and outcome-based reimbursement. These all add up to one thing: an urgent need for seamless services and payments spanning the patient journey.

This presents an incredible opportunity for medical technology companies to take the lead in developing collaborative platforms bringing all players in the healthcare community together.

Customer experiences in healthcare have changed little in 20 years. A fresh approach is long overdue

Everyone’s a winner

No company, on its own, can create enough value for a platform to succeed. Platforms are built on ecosystem collaboration. So, the question for medical technology companies: how can they create value for themselves and enable others to do the same for a larger audience?

For platforms to succeed they need to have four key characteristics:

Seamless interactions between providers/producers and consumers

Meaningful data is captured, consolidated and shared… ethically

Rapid, convenient, and easy user experiences

Critical mass of producers and consumers through incentives and pricing

Design it (right) … and they will come

They keep it simple. They keep it focused. And they’re built on insight. It all starts by asking some fundamental questions:

What does our platform ecosystem look like? And how will its stakeholders benefit?

Where’s the value for our business? And how will we make money from the platform?

These are the foundations. Companies must understand the full spectrum of stakeholders (and their specific needs). Only then can they build the trusted relationships on which a thriving medical technology platform depends.

90%

Winning platform strategies focus on specific value propositions for each different group of stakeholders in the ecosystem

6 OUT OF 10

Patients will use patient services when they are aware of them.

Show me the value

Creating value for the ecosystem is, of course, not enough. There’s got to be something in it for the platform owner too. So, what benefits can medical technology companies expect to flow from their platforms? Here’s a few:

Opportunities to create new portfolios of services

Increased sales and margins from current portfolio

Improving care quality…while lowering costs

Enhancing patient experiences

Improving company’s brand image

Expanding market footprint

Building new partnerships

Using data to create value

Health platforms will be the foundation on which future collaboration, tracking and continuous improvement are built. They’ll drive the shift from pure products businesses to service businesses. And they’ll help healthcare professionals, patients and other users collaborate with their digital counterparts.

That’s why the race is on to build the first successful healthcare platform. It’s time to get started.